October 29, 2018

Dutch sustainable aquaculture investment fund Aqua-Spark announced its investment in CageEye, an agtech software and hardware developer working to improve efficiency in feeding practices for the salmon farming industry.

Located in Oslo, Norway, CageEye employs echo-sounder technology, which uses machine learning and acoustic data to monitor, measure, and analyze biomass movements. By doing so, salmon farmers will be able to better understand the welfare of their fish; make more informed decisions, and automate common practices such as feeding for more optimized outcomes.

“Current market practice is to use optical underwater cameras, which cover a very limited field of view and lead to highly subjective decisions,” said Bendik S. Søvegjarto, CEO of CageEye. “Our acoustical system covers the whole feeding zone and makes consistent decisions meal after meal, which improve as we continue to train our models on growing datasets of salmon behavior and accompanying feed operator decisions.”

This investment in CageEye marks the sixteenth for Aqua-Spark. Since 2015, the fund, which focuses on backing small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) targeting the sustainable production of fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants, has grown to have EUR 49.3 million (US$56 million) under management, and has a goal to grow to EUR 1.5 billion (US$1.7 billion)  under management by 2025.

The fund’s investments last year in Polish agbiotech company, Proteon, and fish breeding technology platform, Cryoocyte, signaled Aqua-Spark’s portfolio diversification toward agtech.

At the time, Mike Velings, co-founder of Aqua-Spark told IntraFish, “Our next investments will surely be in technology, farming of fish, farming of aquatic plants and seaweed and potentially in market techs,” adding that the firm planed to make another 10 investments over the course of the next year.

With this round CageEye has raised a total EUR 5.3 million (US$6 million) in funding and grants since its commercial launch in 2016.

“We are very excited to have Aqua-Spark on our team with their vast network and expertise within seafood, beyond salmon which is our current focus,” said Søvegjarto.  “Aqua-Spark also aligns very well with our core value of sustainability and shares our vision on how to feed a growing population without sacrificing our planet or the environment.”

CageEye plans to use the funds gained through this deal for investment into its R&D programs, to grow its team, and to expand its customer support network.

“Aqua-Spark provides long-term equity with no defined exit horizon, and the funding enables us to scale our team even faster, increase the customer value we deliver, and allow on-boarding of new selected customers,” said Ivar Strand, chairman of CageEye.

For Aqua-Spark, CageEye’s work strikes at the core of its investment thesis, and shows promise as an wider application across the industry.

“Improving feed and addressing feed loss have been a priority within our portfolio from Aqua-Spark’s inception, as it’s the greatest challenge for any fish farm,” said Velings. “With CageEye, we’re able to support improvements in cage farm management, including how feed is distributed. Beyond this, we’re excited to see how their behavior assessment technology will impact other areas of farming as the company matures.”

-Lynda Kiernan